Indian-American couple arrested on charges of healthcare fraud

An Indian-American couple in the US has been arrested on the charges of crafting the doctors’ reports themselvesWashington: An Indian-American couple in the US has been arrested on the charges of crafting the doctors’ reports themselves and photocopying real physicians’ signatures onto the documents.

Nita Patel and Kirtish Patel, both 51 and from Rockaway in New Jersey, face maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a USD 250,000 fine.

The couple, owner and operator of Biosound Medical Services and Heart Solutions of Parsippany, has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, US Attorney Paul J Fishman’s office said yesterday.

Arrested from their residence in New Jersey yesterday, they were released on a USD 100,000 unsecured bond, with travel restricted to New Jersey unless given prior approval by pretrial services.

They have been asked to surrender their passports.

In their complaint, prosecutors alleged that about half of diagnostic reports generated by Biosound in the past two years had a photocopied signature from a reading physician when no physician had actually seen, reviewed or interpreted the results.

Rather than pay compensation to a reading physician, Kirtish allegedly would interpret the diagnostic results himself and Nita would either photocopy or electronically cut and paste a physician’s signature onto a diagnostic report that was drafted by an employee of Biosound and forwarded to the referring physician who ordered the testing.